Is democracy for ancient Greeks?

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Originally Posted by Destroyer of Hope

The problem with democracy is the two party system. There is no breaking party lines, no out of the box ideas. If we could compromise it would be easier. But the fact is no one wants to admit anything is wrong, or if they do its usually the other party's fault. Recently Howard Dean came forward saying the democrats will vote down any budget which adds to the deficit. Yet at the same time they don't want to cut anything or raise taxes. Why? Because it would look bad with the American people.
What we need more is a leader who doesnt care about what the people want but what the people need, and with democracy that's almost impossible because in the end what wins elections is promises of tax cuts and government money going to the people were it could be spent in a better way.

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Not just two party systems.
Eventhough I prefer many parties as they can easier represent the views of the public, they are still a far cry from doing that very well. The two parties I regularly vote for very often do things I do not agree with, so in effect I would feel best if there was yet another party. And that could go on.

While many parties are better at representing the population as a whole, it can also lead to parties which will never be part of the government. They are effectively free to claim impossible things, or lay down proposals that will sound good (for the public), but the rest more reposeable parties will have to shoot down. They will never have to suffer the ire of the public when it finds out that they would ruin the country.
This is also a problem, as such actions do not help the daily clutter of proposals, discussions and votes.

But I agree that secret votes would be good in many cases.
Isn't it written into the US constitution or something that representatives must first vote with their contiousness, then the partyline? At least it is like that here in Denmark. Always the personal opinion first, then that of the party. And quite often you do see people who will jump boat against the party, thought not too often.

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Originally Posted by Somebody Else

Example. 5th century Athens after Pericles died. Went from a strong position in the Peloponnesian war to, well, losing it through a whole load of contradictory policies.

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Stupidity lost Athens the war. One encounter in Sphacteria where they managed to shoot the Spartans there into submission made them disregard the Spartan peace offer and continue the war, which, of course, they lost because of the superiority of the Spartan phalanx.

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Originally Posted by Tiberius

Stupidity lost Athens the war.

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Heh! I just wrote an essay saying that.

Alternatives?

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Originally Posted by Upxl

Alternatives?

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me... ~;)
I mean I've bunch of experience, I've played R:tw vanilla alot and I've played mods so...:sweatdrop:

well my friend,
that makes you more capable then most of the politicians we have today.
You got my vote.~:thumb:

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Originally Posted by Upxl

well my friend,
that makes you more capable then most of the politicians we have today.
You got my vote.~:thumb:

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should I laugh or cry.
:shame:

You can laugh because you'll get elected ,I'll cry for both of us.

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Originally Posted by A.Saturnus

Democracy is based on the idea that stupidity is preferable over malevolence. We don't have democracy because it finds the best solutions to our problems, but because it avoids the worst.

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Pure genius :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Destroyer of Hope

The problem with democracy is the two party system. There is no breaking party lines, no out of the box ideas. If we could compromise it would be easier.

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Not all democracies produce two party systems... in a majority system it will trend towards two parties depending on how the voting system works.

While in proportional systems they will have a higher tendency to have minority parties get representatives into government.